


The New Kid

by IdentityCrisis



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU Voltron, Alternate Universe - School, Bisexual Lance, Crush, Denial, Flirting, Fluff, Gay, Gay Keith, Gay Panic, High School AU, M/M, Questioning Lance, School, Sexuality Crisis, Voltron Family Vibes, Year 11, new kid, pidge and hunk friendship, pining lance, tease
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-02 18:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15802002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdentityCrisis/pseuds/IdentityCrisis
Summary: There’s a new kid at school, someone who’s going to cause a whole lot more trouble for Lance than he ever expected. Lance begins to fall down the rabbit hole of a sexuality crisis and only one person can pull him out of it. Keith.





	1. School starts (again)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work so please be nice, I’m currently writing this because I want to write something my way with characters that I know how they act and I need something to be proud of so here we go :) - Chelsea

Lance groans loudly as the car pulls up in front of his house and he sees the familiar mop of hair belonging to one of his oldest friends Hunk. It’s the first day back at school after the summer, the first day of year 11. He was doing his GCSE’s for god sake. He scrambled around to pack the rest of his bag whilst Shiro leaned on the horn. Sliding into the back seat, his sense of dread was quickly replaced by a sense of ease in seeing his friends. Pidge and Hunk has been away at some space camp thing for most of the summer and Shiro was more of a friend to Matt - Pidge’s brother - than him so he hadn’t seen any of them since the first week of the holidays. Although Shiro wasn’t really a good friend of any of them, he was a teacher at their school, starting this year, so he offered to give them all a lift whenever he didn’t have to be in early. 

 

“Lance! Please tell your  _ dear  _ friend Hunk that I won’t speak to him until he admits that Iron man could totally  _ destroy  _ Captain America in a fight.” Pidge huffed, her mock glare pointed Hunk who sat in front of her in the passenger seat.

 

“Ok wait, I’m not saying you’re wrong but he just doesn’t have technology developed enough to have that much of an effect. Captain America was the only person who lasted two seconds against Thanos in infinity war, he’s clearly better than everyone else.” Hunk protested desperately trying to salvage the squabble. Lance smirked, these two had been living next door to each other since they were four years old but somehow this was the one thing they could never agree on. However, the familiarity eased Lance’s nerves enough that he managed to stop his leg from shaking so violently. 

 

Cars flooded into the car park and Lance groaned again, he was so not ready for this but then when would he be? He slid out the car onto the floor dramatically and Pidge jumped out and landed on his stomach making him screech and scramble up. 

 

“Keep your eyes peeled for the new kid!” Hunk exclaimed excitedly. 

 

“New kid? Who?”

 

“Yea haven’t you heard the rumours? There’s this new kid starting this year.” Pidge seemed shocked as if Lance had been hiding under a rock all summer. Which he had but they didn’t need to know that did they?

 

School was the same as when they left and Lance couldn’t help but wonder if this place was even funded by the government anymore. The place desperately needed some fixing up but no one seemed concerned that the ceiling of the second floor toilets almost fell on someone’s head last year. 

 

Rather than school zooming past, as Lance and his less nerdy classmates would’ve preferred, it seemed to drag on for an eternity and by the time break rolled around they were all convinced it should’ve been at least period 5. Little did Lance know, someone was about to turn his world more than a little sideways. 

 

***

 

It was fourth period and buzz of this new kid had died down, no one had seen anyone new other than the millions of tiny gremlins that were supposedly the new year sevens. That was until Lance had finally fallen into the boring zombified state, demanded of Miss Allura’s science lessons. He loved science, he really did, but it was just something about the way the teachers taught it that just put him straight to sleep. 

 

Suddenly the whole class fell into a deadly silence. Lance lifted his head slightly to determine why this was and his jaw dropped.

 

It was the new kid, he was real and he was here. 

 

_ And holy shit, he was cute. Wait, what?  _

 

Introductions were made, his name was Keith, he had just moved down from Birmingham and he was  _ very  _ shy - or just moody Lance couldn’t really tell. The teacher told Keith to pick a seat and Lance realised he had been staring so he quickly dropped his gaze down to his hands and started fiddling with a gas tap. He could feel Keith’s eyes burning into his head and he wasn’t sure how he knew it was him but he didn’t dare look up. This boy was  _ hot  _ and Lance wasn’t sure what that meant to him. 

 

_ Cute to hot? What the actual fuck was happening to his brain filter right now, because it clearly wasn’t working. _

 

Movement in the seat next to him caught his eye as Keith flopped down and slammed his head into the table. Lance tried to hide his smirk but it still earned him a glare from beneath the mullet. Somehow that glare just made Keith even more enticing to him and Lance can’t seem to put his finger on why. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith’s eyebrows knitted together, his face buried in the sleeve of his jumper it was easy to get lost in thought. 

 

He knew as soon as he walked into the classroom that he was in trouble, his heart leapt to his mouth as he stared in awe at the boy who had glanced at him from under his eyelashes. His eyes caught on the startling depths held within them. Keith wrenched his gaze away and began to study the other kids who seemed intrigued by him, like he was fresh meat, it was decidedly uncomfortable so he hurried through introductions and dropped into the first seat available. When he realised who he’d sat next to, Keith was horrified, in his haste to get away from the deadly gaze of his peers he had sat next to the one person he desperately wanted to stay as far away from as possible, the one who would cause him the most trouble seemingly possible. 

 

***

 

“Pidge! Hey wait up” 

 

Lance skidded down the corridor tripping and almost falling on top of Pidge in an effort to catch up. 

 

“Watch where you’re going Lance!” She screeched and he rushed to apologise. 

 

“Ok but seriously have you seen the new kid?” 

 

“Yea he’s pretty smart, he’s in my maths class and he aced the start of unit test we were given-” 

 

“I don’t care how smart he is Pidgeeee, I care how freaking gorgeous he is! It’s so unfair why do some people just get all the looks?”

 

“Lance keep your gay on, he’s not that great.” Pidge started cackling at the way Lance’s face just twisted into pure shock. 

 

“I’m not gay!” Lance shrieked, turning bright red as he realised what he’d just done. The whole hallway turned and stared for what seemed like eternity, but in reality was about two seconds, and when they resumed their conversations Lance glared at Pidge and buried his face into his backpack with a muffled sigh. 

 

“Hey, what’s happening here then?” Hunk laughed when he saw Lance’s distraught face and Pidge cut in with a quick reply of:

 

“Lance just got exposed, he’s got a hugeeee gay crush on- Ahhhh shfkkshdj” Lance attacked Pidge in a desperate attempt to prevent the next part of the sentence from being explained, but something in the look on Hunk’s face told him he was too late. 


	2. The one where they question everything

*** Keith Pov ***

 

Keith was in the kitchen trying desperately to sort out the mess his dad had managed to make of the dinner and cook something slightly edible before he was back from the shop. Keith was usually pretty good at cooking but today he was slightly distracted, for whatever reason. He could very easily have guessed the reason behind his one track mind but for the moment he didn’t entirely want to admit it. He knew the first words out of his dad's mouth would be something along the lines of “So did you meet any cute guys today?” Or “You gonna bring anyone home anytime soon?” Whilst smirking and winking, which would probably only make Keith’s complex worse so he put on some Panic! - because queer Brendon obviously, and tried to just forget it. 

 

***

 

Lance threw himself on the bed, the words echoing back at him from somewhere in his head. Pidge had planted the idea firmly in his brain and it was lodged there seemingly unshakable. He had never even considered the option but something about Keith felt important to him in a way he couldn’t figure out. Lance could feel his brain whirling, problem after problem filtering through but they didn’t seem to be making any sense so eventually he just put his playlist on shuffle and laid down. He felt better when the music started playing but then he slowly began to recognise the song and he was ready to scream. 

 

“I don’t wanna hear you got a boyfriend” ( **A/N - This is Boys/boys/girls by Panic! at the disco - The bisexual national anthem *cough cough* *hint hint*** )

 

***

 

Due to not having slept Lance had to be slightly more creative with ways of staying awake and it was doing  _ wonders _ for his nerves. Somehow the second day of school had even more reasons than the first for Lance to be on edge and he drank so much coffee that he was practically twitching. Every time he saw a glimpse of black hair or a red leather jacket his heart jumped and he was mildly concerned he would have a heart attack at this rate. To make matters worse Keith was in no less than 3 of his classes so far (Still 6 to find out about) and it seemed the world decided it was time to kill Lance because both Shiro and Miss Allura had seated Keith right next to him. 

 

All Lance knew was that by lunch he was ready to collapse and just let the wave of generally good spirited conversation from Pidge and Hunk just consume him for a while. That was until he walked into the cafeteria…

 

Of course he was, he’s sat at our table and he seems genuinely happy about it, Lance was definitely ready to die at this point and he had a feeling this was one of Pidge’s carefully constructed plans. The war in his brain resulted in the decision that he had nowhere else to go so he made his way slowly over to the table, deliberately ignoring Pidge’s painfully obvious wink. 

 

“Oh heyyyy Lanceee!” Pidge chimed, gleefully winking again for good measure. 

 

“Hey.” He was aiming for casual but when Lance managed to force the words out his voice sounded strained and distorted as if said through a tin can. 

 

*** Keith Pov ***

 

Considering it’s only the first day, Keith thought he’d done quite well in terms of making friends. He’d met Hunk and Pidge pretty quickly on the first day but he hadn’t exactly been nice to them but they were in most of his classes and they shared many of the same interests like space and engineering so they invited him to sit with them at lunch. It was going pretty smoothly until Pidge started cracking up at something behind his head. He turned around to see the one person he hoped wouldn’t be anywhere near him any more than he needed to be. Lance. He was stood frozen, mouth dropped open slightly, staring at the group at their table. Keith’s heart fluttered, why on earth was Lance so shocked? Was it because he usually sat with Pidge and Hunk? Keith came to his conclusion when Lance came over, dragging his feet and settled in the only seat available. Next to Keith. Lance moved as far away from Keith as humanly possible without falling off the chair but their legs were still pressed up against each other and it made Keith flush a deep scarlet. The conversation was easy going but there was tension in the air, the kind you could cut with a knife. Keith longed to be able to talk to Lance but something about him made his legs feel like jelly and his heart race. 

 

“So Keith, have you met Lance yet? He’s not exactly smart like us but we like to keep him around for entertainment.” Hunk spoke to break the tension and by the outraged look on Lance’s face had destroyed his ego in the process. 

 

“HEY!” Lance screeched in protest. 

 

“Chill he’s only joking.” Pidge cut in with a grin on her face. 

 

“I have actually, I think we sit together in English and Science but we haven’t actually spoken yet.” Replied Keith coolly.  

 

***

 

“Yeah, you’re pretty good at that science stuff aren’t you Keith? Maybe you could help me out with our chemistry” Lance said with a wink, proceeding to bask in the shocked faces of Pidge and Hunk, who seemed to be unable to comprehend that he got over his awkwardness so quickly, but proud that he’s making his move. 

 

_ Lance still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about this but he was pretty sure a tiny bit of flirting wouldn’t hurt anyone. He was also quite enjoying the pure disbelief on Keith’s face, there was a small flicker of another emotion somewhere under the surface but it was gone before Lance could even begin to identify it. He dismissed it after no more than a second of thought and tried to tune back in to listen to the answer Keith was struggling to provide.  _

 

“Of course  _ babe  _ anything for you.” Keith had replied almost immediately, with no signs of any pain other than the original disbelief. 

 

Lance was about to speak when the bell went, a wave of annoyance washed over him and he settled for a mysterious wink before vanishing into the crowd to his next lesson. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know this is only the second chapter but if you guys want to let me know in the comments what you think :) - Chelsea


	3. The PE scene ;)

*** Keith Pov ***

 

“Keith wait up” Hunk calls after him. Keith stops at the door to the stairs and leans against the wall whilst he waits for him to catch up. 

 

He’d become pretty good friends with both Hunk and Pidge during his first week, they’d welcomed him into the group with ease and he was quite glad for that because it meant he got to be as close to Lance as possible without actually showing that he likes him. 

 

Hunk had finally made it down the hallway, after stopping to chat to Shiro about English homework or something, and he grinned at Keith. 

 

“So what’s the deal with Lance?”

 

The question caught him off guard and Keith could barely form an answer in his head. 

 

“Uh… what? W-what deal? Lance who?” Great well done Keith make it any more obvious why don’t you. 

 

“Ok so there’s clearly something going on here, do you wanna talk about it?” Hunk said with a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. 

 

“Sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about” Keith replied coolly as he stalked off, tugging his headphones out of his pocket to emphasise that the conversation was over. 

 

***

 

Lance glanced over Pidge’s shoulder at her timetable to confirm that their next lesson was PE and almost lost an eye when she swatted at him. Giggling he danced away out of her reach and she turned away from the board she was facing and gave him a playful glare before joining him on the way to their lesson. 

 

“Hey Lance, make sure you don’t get too distracted in the changing rooms,” She said casually. 

 

“What? What do you mean?” Lance answered with what was almost a straight face. 

 

Laughing sounded from behind them and Lance whipped around to see Hunk clinging to the wall at the bottom of the stairs. “Y-your face oh my god, Lance you tried so so hard and it didn’t even work”

 

Lance felt his face flush and he shrugged and turned back to Pidge “No but seriously what?”

 

“Think about this Lance, you’re totally obsessed with Keith and 100% gay crushing on him. Is it really a great idea to go get changed in a room where he’s most likely only wearing boxers?” Pidge pushed gently. 

 

“Ok I am sooo not crushing on Keith and even if I was I’m sure I’ll be able to handle the two seconds that he’s not wearing a shirt!”

 

“Wow you are so lucky I don’t do PE or I’d definitely be sat there laughing at you for at least ten minutes” Hunk choked out between laughs. 

 

“You’re laughing at me right now!”

 

Lance gave them a small wave before heading into the changing rooms to face whatever would come next, most likely a lot of staring at a wall in panic. 

 

***

 

He put his bag down and began taking his shoes off, scanning the room for Keith, he wasn’t there yet so Lance decided to watch the door and get changed as quickly as possible. PE was already hell on earth for all the drama kids like Lance but  _ someone  _ had to go and make it worse. 

 

Lance was halfway through taking his shirt off when Keith walked through the door and he stopped to watch him search the room. He was definitely looking for someone but it was impossible to tell who until his eyes stopped on Lance and he started to move towards him.

 

Lance realised with a jolt that he was probably the only person Keith knew in this crowded room and he momentarily felt bad for him. Keith stopped a few pegs down from where he was put his bags down and began lifting the hem of his shirt. Lance whipped around determined not to see more than he had to because he knew what it would do to him. 

 

 _This is not good, so not good._ He thought he’d be ok with this but he was far too aware of every move Keith made and even out of the corner of his eye Lance could see Keith, shirtless, rummaging through his bag. 

 

_ Snap the fuck out of it Lance.  _

 

Lance pulled his trousers off whilst keeping his eyes trained on the floor in front of him. He had been so focused on not looking at the  _ literal god _ next to him that he hadn’t realised Keith was now standing right behind him. 

 

“Hey, um Lance?” Keith said quietly from beside him. 

 

“Jesus fuck!” Lance yelped, he turned to face Keith and… 

 

_ Shit.  _

 

_ ***  _ Keith’s Pov  _ *** _

 

“God, sorry. I just need some deodorant.” 

 

Keith could’ve sworn he’d just spoken but Lance seemed completely lost, almost dead to the world. His jaw hung slack, eyes trained on Keith somewhere below his face and he just stood there like a freaking statue. 

 

It had taken Keith aback at how Lance had jumped away from him, alarm and something Keith couldn’t decipher written all over his face. What was his problem? Keith had only walked up to him for…  _ Oh.  _ Maybe Lance was one of  _ those  _ guys. The ones that got super uncomfortable when other guys got too close. Had he been getting vibes from Keith?  _ Shit, was he really that obvious?  _ Panic ensued and his brain went into auto pilot. 

 

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Keith grumbled, irritability. 

 

He snatched the deodorant off the bench and sprayed it within two seconds, then he lobbed it back at Lance who fumbled it, it hit him in the chest and dropped to the floor with a loud clang. 

 

*** 

 

_ What in the world just happened? Why is he so mad? Shit had he seen him staring? Maybe Lance needed to be slightly more obvious with his intentions.  _

 

A million thoughts zoomed around in his head and it seemed impossible to make sense of them all so Lance got changed quicker than humanly possible and rushed out to join in with whatever crappy sport the were due to play this term. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn’t too sure about this chapter so any comments would be very welcome.


	4. Lance? Homophobic?

“Pidge, Hunk, help meeee, I fucked up,” Lance whined, he put on his best puppy dog eyes and pouted. 

 

“What now Lance?” Pidge said with a sigh of disappointment. 

 

“So I maybe got carried away and may have given Keith the wrong impression when I was staring in PE…”

 

“Oh Lance, you really aren’t very good at-”

 

“HANG ON ARE YOU ACCEPTING THAT YOU LIKE HIM!” Pidge shrieked suddenly. 

 

“Um no, not at all, absolutely not, why would you even…” Lance began awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck not so discreetly. 

 

“Aweeeee” Pidge and Hunk looked at each other and laughed at their immediate reaction. 

 

“Ok shut up and help me!” 

 

“Lance if he thinks you’re homophobic who’s he going to ask?”

 

“Um…” 

 

“Us! He’ll ask us, he knows we’re friends and he knows we know you well so obviously he’ll ask us”

 

“Ok but you can’t say anything more than I’m not homophobic! Don’t you fucking dare tell him I’m ‘questioning my lifestyle’ or however you say it.”

 

Pidge and Hunk nodded and Lance continued to speak as he began to pick at his nails nervously. 

 

“I might, you know, be a bit more obvious about how I feel though.”

 

“Ok, yeah sounds good, so what’re you going to do?” Hunk questioned eagerly. 

 

“Oh you know, the usual” was the mysterious reply Lance supplied before he took off down the hall, running towards the front doors of the school. Hunk and Pidge ran after him full pelt but none of them were very athletic so they all got tired before they even reached the front steps of the school. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

_ Keith was furious with himself, how could he let this happen? It never even occurred to him that Lance might be… homophobic. But if he’s homophobic why was he flirting with Keith at lunch the other day? Was it flirting?  _

 

His head was thumping and no amount of ibuprofen or codeine would help him now. Keith was walking home, it was raining heavily but he needed time and space to think. He had to do something, he had to find out if what he suspected was true and there was only one way to do that. He took a breath and picked up the phone. 

 

It rang a couple times before there was a click and the call was connected. 

 

“Hello? Pidge speaking”

 

“Hey Pidge it’s Keith,”

 

“Oh hey Keith what’s up?”

 

“Nothing, no I’m ok, I was just wondering if I could ask you a question?”

 

“You just did but sure ask away,”

 

Keith laughed tensely before continuing. 

 

“Is Lance…”

 

“Gay?”

 

“Wait what? No! Wait why’d you think that’s what I was gonna say?”

 

“Because it’s painfully obvious how you feel about him-”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was gonna say homophobic anyway.”

 

“Ohhhhhh… no, definitely not.”

 

“Ok that’s all I needed thank you.”

 

“Hey, wait Keith?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“If you like Lance just go for it”

 

“Sorry I can’t hear you, gotta go byeee”

 

The line cut out before Pidge could even say goodbye and Keith let out a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. The stabbing pain ebbed from his brain and his whole body relaxed, he wasn’t sure what he would of done if the answer had been as he had feared, but Keith was relieved that he stood more of a chance with Lance now then he did five minutes ago. 

 

*** Pidge’s Pov ***

 

“Hunk it was Keith! He couldn’t even wait till he got home to ask me!” Pidge yelled at Hunk from across the store she jumping up and down in excitement and Hunk couldn’t help but laugh. 

 

“Aweee they’re gonna be so cute together!” Hunk said joyfully joining Pidge’s celebratory dance down the aisle. 

 

“They’re officially my otp, screw Frostiron and Drarry, this is my life now and I fully accept it.”

 

“Amen” Hunk said pressing his hands together and pretending to take a swig from a wine bottle. 

 

Pidge burst out into laughter, took the bottle, shoved it back on the shelf and pushed Hunk back out into the rain, where she proceeded to chase him down the street after he stole her glasses. 

 

*** 

 

Lance jumped when his phone began to ring, he’d just turned the corner into his road on the way back from school and he was soaked to the bone, Pidge and Hunk had stopped in a show a couple minutes back so Pidge could answer her phone, but Lance just kept walking. He had to get out of the rain as quickly as possible or he’d die of hypothermia, he was sure. 

 

“Hey Pidge what’s up?”

 

“You’ll never guess who called me!”

 

“Who?”

 

“It was Keith, he didn’t even make it home before his feelings got the best of him and he had to ask me.”

 

“Oh! What did you tell him”

 

“I told him that you’re constantly drooling over him, you love him with all your gay heart and your stupid ass was staring at him in PE bc you got a damn boner over his abs.”

 

Lance was stunned into silence, he couldn’t find the words to yell at Pidge so he stood there outside his door, in the rain looking like he just heard he was going to drop dead. For the second time that day his mouth dropped open, his eyes bugged out of his head and he gasped wordlessly into the phone. 

 

“I’m joking Lance chill out! All I said is that you’re definitely, without a doubt homophobic and maybe nudged Keith towards asking you out.”

 

“I’m. Going. To. Kill. You.” Lance growled at Pidge and he heard Hunk chuckling away in the background. 

 

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.” She said before hanging up the phone quickly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I go back to school soon so those few who are actually invested in reading this may have to wait slightly longer between each chapter - Chelsea xxx


	5. Lotor

_Science, ok he could do this, just one hour of sitting next to the hottest boy he knows, no problem, he’d be fine._

 

Lance made a mental note to check he wasn’t going crazy talking to himself before he took the plunge and strolled into the classroom.

 

“Nice of you to join us Mr. McClain” Allura greeted sarcastically.

 

“Morning Miss, sorry I’m late.” Lance kept it short and sweet before sweeping casually over to his seat. He had a plan as he wasn’t going to back down. Lance unpacked his book and pen and began scrawling onto a scrap piece of paper.

 

He slid the note over to Keith who rolled his eyes before opening it slowly:

 

**So I need some advice…**

**I have a crush on a gorgeous someone who shall remain anonymous for the sake of my life, I have no idea what to do or say because every time I go near them my brain shuts down and the words don’t come out properly. I’m also pretty sure they hate me so there’s that.**

 

Keith sighed audibly and Lance worried for a moment that he wouldn’t reply. The scratch of pencil on paper gave Lance a tinge of hope and he clung to it as he unfolded the paper.

 

**_Although I’m not sure why you’re talking to me about this, I will take the liberty of pointing out that I’m sure every girl in this school would go out with you in a heartbeat, you aren’t dubbed ‘The Player’ for nothing you know. As for hating you, there may be many people in the world that hate you, but in this school I can’t think of a single person so just ask her the fuck out and save us both the trouble here._ **

 

Lance felt his heart sink and a frown descended over his features leaving the mark of a furrowed brow and chewed fingernails.

 

The scribbling began once again, for a noticeably shorter amount of time, before the note was passed.

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith wasn’t entirely sure why Lance was still writing notes but he unfolded the paper carefully and smoothed it out before reading the words held on its page.

 

His heart skipped several beats. He was concerned it had stopped completely until a couple seconds later when he became concerned it might leap straight out of his chest.

  
  


**It’s not a girl.**

  


***

 

When Keith didn’t start writing Lance wasn’t sure what to think. His brain turned off but he managed to write something roughly legible.

 

**Honestly I don’t know what to think. I’ve never felt like this about a guy before and it’s freaking me out a little bit.**

 

A minute passed and it was excruciating. Lance tried his best to listen to the teacher, determined to not show Keith just how freaked out he really was. _He must think I’m such an idiot._ He was so far in his own head that he didn’t register the piece of paper that was being slid back to him. A quiet sigh and then a finger prodded his arm, gently but firmly. Lance jumped, looking over to Keith who sat facing the teacher, not even looking at him. He was smiling though, even if it was a microscopic one.

 

**_Cool but why are you telling me?_ **

 

Lance frowned, chewing on his lip. He really didn’t want to seem like a stereotypical asshole but the only other option was telling Keith he liked _him._ And that was a definite no go. At least for now anyway.

 

**I heard you were gay. I just thought you’d be able to help me because I have literally zero experience with this.**

 

A chuckle. Lance blushed a little bit, unable to help it.

 

**_Fair enough. But I want something in return._ **

 

Oh, _what_ now? His dirty mind was seriously going to mess him up someday. _Stop being disgusting, McClain! He probably wants a My Chemical Romance hoodie or something._

 

Lance tried to look indifferent.

 

**Oh really?**

 

He raised his eyebrow at Keith who laughed silently before shoving the paper back.

 

**_It’s only fair that if I set you up with someone, you gotta do the same for me right?_ **

 

Lance’s face fell.

 

**Can’t I do something else?**

 

 _There's still hope yet._ He crossed his fingers under the desk and waited for a reply whilst concentrating intently on the way the light shimmered across the projector screen, showing a slight rainbow around the white glare that lit up the middle of the screen.

 

**_Nope, I want a date with Lotor. ; )_ **

 

_LOTOR!? How did this happen? What did Keith see in that guy? He’s a complete asshole and he’s so selfish. He’s literally the biggest fucktard in the whole school and other than his gorgeous sun-bleached blonde hair and Australian accent, he had nothing going for him._

 

**You’re fucking with me right? You know how much I hate that guy?**

 

**_Oh you do? Sorry, I just think he’s hot._ **

 

Lance could taste the sarcasm but if this is what Keith wanted he would do his best to make him happy.

 

**Ok fine.**

 

Lance wasn’t sure what he’d expected of this lesson but it clearly wasn’t this, he was ready to escape and as if an answer to his prayers, the bell rang.

 

***

 

“PIDGE! HUNK!” Lance screamed, as he caught sight of his friends wandering down the quiet corridor.

 

“Lance be quiet! We can hear you!” Hunk snapped quickly before a teacher came out and threw a book at them or something. You just never knew with this school.

 

“Ok but I need help.”

 

“Lance stop whining, you’re not going to die.” Pidge said, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.

 

“I might!’

 

“If you drank the strange liquid in the science lab again I swear to god!” Hunk threatened hastily.

 

“I didn’t!” He screeched indignantly. “Can we maybe go somewhere… less public?”

 

Hunk seemed to have gotten the message that this was slightly more serious than he had originally thought and so he ushered them out the front door and over to the park across the road. It was out of the way enough that they wouldn’t be overheard and Lance felt safer just by knowing that. They sat down together on a bench surrounded by bushes, and Pidge and Hunk sat there expectantly.

 

As he explained Lance tried to follow the emotions that flitted over the faces of his best friends but it was impossible to count so he stopped after ten.

 

“So… Keith, wants a date with… Lotor? As in THE Lotor? Lotor that bullied you for having a blue power rangers lunch box in year 2? Lotor that took your lunch money for 2 years straight so you got so thin your doctor thought you were bulimic? Lotor that stole your first ever girlfriend? That Lotor?” Pidge said incredulously.

 

Lance just nodded, too angry to even lift his head.

 

“I think your plan may have slightly backfired Lance.” Hunk mumbled into his hands.

 

“I’m going to do it.” Lance decided, Pidge and Hunk stared at him as if he was crazy.

 

“You what!”

 

“Are you feeling ok?”

 

Pidge presses a hand to his forehead, pretending to check his temperature.

 

“What’s the diagnosis doc?” Hunk said with mock concern.

 

“It’s very serious… I’m sorry but he has… Lovesickness”

 

Hunk gasped and they both dissolved into laughter and Lance couldn’t help but join in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill, comment what you think down below. I hope you guys like this chapter, I thought I’d try some angst because you know, high school, it can’t all be fluffy and happy. - Chelsea xx


	6. Anxiety and suffering

Considering it was only the fourth week of school Lance was completely exhausted, the events of the last few weeks had left him emotionally drained and he could barely find the effort to smile at Pidge and Hunk each morning. This in itself was bad enough, but he now had to think of a way to get Lotor to go on a date with Keith. 

 

The halls of the school were empty but Lance felt strangled by a flood of emotions that had built up in his head and he gasped for air. He knew he was having a panic attack but the realisation of that fact just made it even worse. 

 

His hands began to shake and he slid to the floor before his legs gave out too. His brain began to shut down and his vision blurred. His breathing got faster but he still felt like there was no air in his lungs, the halls morphed into an unrecognisable maze of fear and Lance curled up into a tight ball against the lockers. 

 

A hand gripped his shoulder, he knew it was Hunk, he was the only one who knew how to properly deal with one of Lance’s episodes. 

 

“Lance! Lance you gotta listen to me! Come on look at me Lance!”

 

Lance raised his head slightly, barely making out the broad shoulders and fluffy hair of his oldest friends. That was the scariest part, the people closest to him, that he’d know the longest became strange blobs of colour that faded into the background. During his attacks he rarely recognised anyone by looks he had to go more into the detail of how the smelt, walked, talked if he wanted to distinguish between them. 

 

“Okay good start, now you have to count with me ok?” 

 

A nod. 

 

“Ok here we go, you don’t have to say it with me, you just have to concentrate on the numbers and matching your breathing with the counting.”

 

“One… two… three…”

 

Lance felt his muscles begin to relax, he slowly uncurled his fists and slowly stretched out his legs. But just as he had convinced himself he’d be ok he spotted the black mullet and high-arched eyebrows of someone familiar making their way down the hall towards him. 

 

_ No, no, no, no, not now! Why right now? He’s a complete mess and Keith decides to turn up right now! _

 

“Hunk! Hunk you gotta get rid of him!” Lance muttered into his friends ear urgently. 

 

“Keith, please just leave.”

 

“What’s wrong? Can I help? Is he ok?”

 

“No just go please he’s fine he just needs some space.”

 

To his relief Keith gave one last frown in his direction and then turned to walk back down the corridor. Lance managed to let out the breath he’d been holding and he felt the last of the tension leave his body as he rested his head on Hunks shoulder. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith knew he was late but he wasn’t in any hurry to get to his double french lesson so he took the long route through the corridor past his locker. Just as he was about to turn to go up the stairs he heard someone yelling Lance’s name in urgency slightly further down the corridor. His heart beat slightly faster in his chest and worry flooded into every inch of his body. He rushed to see what was happening, but as soon as he caught sight of Lance on the floor and Hunk crouched beside him, his heart clenched like on a rollercoaster when you’re convinced you’re going to die. He felt the worry solidify into a ball in the pit of his stomach but his legs began to work so he slowly made his way over. 

 

Lance was crumpled in a ball and he looked so small and vulnerable that Keith just wanted to wrap him in his arms and carry him away from whatever had just happened. 

 

_ Whoever did this has got to pay.  _

 

His fingers curled tightly into his palms and he felt his nails begin to dig into the small crescent moon scars on the soft tissue. 

 

At first Keith had thought Lance was passed out or something but as he approached he saw Lance’s worried expression as he leaned to whisper something into Hunk ear. 

 

“Keith, please just leave.”

 

_ What? why? He was trying to help, he needed to help, he had to protect Lance from whatever had happened.  _

 

“What’s wrong? Can I help? Is he ok?”

 

“No just go please he’s fine he just needs some space.”

 

Keith felt his shoulders slump but the pain on Lance’s face was too much to bear so he turned away and shuffled back towards his class. 

 

*** (Still) Keith’s Pov ***

 

French was a bore, he knew English and that was all he ever felt he ever needed to know so why did the school have to force him to learn another language?

 

Keith tried extremely hard to focus because now would be the worst time for his mind to wander but something about what happened earlier and the way Hunk reacted to him being there just made Keith unbelievably curious. 

 

He was also still cursing himself for asking his  _ crush  _ to help him get with the one person he hates most in this school. He was trying to make Lance jealous with the whole “I’m with your sworn enemy whatcha gonna do about it” vibe but it just seemed to be giving off the wrong impression and he was getting less and less attention from him which clearly isn’t what he wanted. 

 

He was on the verge of doing something irrational like confessing his feelings when the bell rang and he was free from hell for one more day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the title of the chapter had you so scared there ;) Anyways, you know what to do, comment, let me know what you love/hate blah blah blah. - Chelsea xx


	7. Love letters to the taken

It was official. Keitor had become a thing and Lance was it’s unwilling creator. As soon as Hunk had text him Lance had curled up on his bed with a tub of ice cream and his older sister Veronica. The last time this happened, the two of them in the same room sharing and agreeing on a film, was when Lance was just 6 years old. Veronica knew when her brother needed serious moping time so she sat through all 3 high school musical films and the 5th rerun of friends before she finally asked what was up. As usual she got a nonchalant shrug and a huge spoon of ice cream shoved into his mouth.

 

*** Veronica’s Pov ***

 

“Don’t make me tickle you again Lance. I know there’s something wrong and you’re not a great liar, so tell me the truth.” She demanded stubbornly.

 

_Her heart was breaking, seeing her brother like this was almost as painful as having open heart surgery, and that was no walk in the park. She knew she had to do something but she couldn’t until she managed somehow to get the truth out of him. Which was proving harder than usual, he usually cracked after the first two times she asked but the fact that he hadn’t yet just made her even more concerned._

 

“It’s complicated.” Was the short answer Lance provided but Veronica wasn’t taking it. She’d get the truth out of him somehow.

 

“Lance I only want to help, just let me know what I can do.”

 

“Honestly it’s nothing,”  and when that earned him an swift “look” from his sister. “Ok it’s something, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

 

“Tell meeeee.” She whined playfully.

 

“It’s just this new guy at my school…”

 

“Oh my god! Are you being bullied again? Because I swear I’ll kill them.”

 

“No, no, no! Absolutely not, It’s actually the exact opposite.”

 

The confused look on his sisters face forced Lance to awkwardly explain and by the end of it he was bright red in the face and stuttering awfully. Veronica was desperate to tease her brother about his little crush, but she could see this was serious and that there was no way Lance could possibly deal with this by himself, so she held back her laughter and tried to help.

 

***

 

Lance finally felt semi-stable in the fact he had a plan, but that didn’t mean he wanted the weekend to end and force him to face Keith and his new boyfriend.

 

Currently he was laying on his bed with his speaker blasting music and attempting to block out the worry that threatened to overwhelm him once again.

 

His phone buzzed in his hands and he jumped, it was a text from Hunk, the 5th that day in fact, just checking up on him after what had happened on Friday. Lance had been ignoring both him and Pidge since the start of the weekend but he felt guilty and so he brought up the group chat and started to type.

 

_Lance is typing…_

 

Pidge: OMG HE’S ALIVE! HUNK QUICK HE’S ALIVE!!

 

Hunk: IT'S A MIRACLE! YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO MR!

 

Lance: Ok so first off, I’m sorry for not texting you both back and I’m sorry if you’ve been worried but I had to deal with what caused my attack on Friday and now I feel slightly better I guess.

 

Hunk: Hey it’s ok we totally get it we’re just glad you’re ok xxx

 

Lance: Also, I have a plan for how to win Keith back, I get that he wants to be with Lotor but my sister thinks it might just be that he’s trying to make me jealous so I’m going to write him some anonymous letters.

 

Pidge: Love letters?

 

Hunk: I get that you like him and everything Lance but are you sure this is a good idea?

 

Lance: Well that’s why they’re anonymous, if he’s happy he can ignore the first one and I won’t bother him again, but if he answers my first one he’s clearly either not happy, or he’s hung up on someone else.

 

Pidge: Ok I’ll be the first to admit, that’s a pretty good plan xxx

 

Hunk: Yea ok that does make sense I guess, good luck Lance xx

 

Lance: Thankyouuu gotta go write letter no.1 now xxx ;)

 

***

 

_Dear Keith,_

_Ever since you joined the school I’ve had my eye on you, you made me question myself in ways I’d never questioned before and that makes you different. You were new and exciting and so I put it down to that but you’ve been here 5 weeks now and I still feel the same way. I just wanted to let you know how I feel but if you’re happy with your boyfriend feel free to ignore this letter. Seeing as this is the first letter I’m going to put it in your locker but if you want to continue this… whatever this is, we can leave our letters under the wobbly bench by the sycamore tree._

_\- A secret admirer, if you will._

Lances hands were shaking so bad he could barely type, he almost tried handwriting it but not only was that impossible with his nerves but his handwriting was also basically illegible and Keith would spot him a mile off considering he sat next to him in not one but two lessons. He retyped the whole thing around 15 times and even then it took him 20 minutes to think of a way to sign it.

 

He quickly took a picture and sent it to Hunk asking for an opinion but all he got in response was a voice note of his fit of laughter. No matter how desperate he was Lance wouldn’t stoop so low as to ask his sister to proof read his love letter. Lance was honestly kind of concerned that Veronica hadn’t forced him to do her homework or her chores in return for the help she had given because it was only a matter of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you think and there’s points for any correct theories on how this goes down. So enjoy I guess


	8. To reply or to not reply

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith knew he should be happy but he felt both guilty and dissatisfied. Yes, he had kind of wanted to be with Lotor, he was hot and totally Keith’s type, but he very obviously had a really shitty personality and as it turns out… Lance was right. They hadn’t even gone out yet because Lotor was kind of a closet gay and Keith had spent the weekend pining after the one person he was trying to make jealous with his little scheme. He had also accidentally gotten so deep into Lance’s Facebook that not only did he find out the name of everyone in his family in the last several generations, but he also found out that his mum could use the new social media platform better than Lance had ever been able to manage. 

 

Every waking thought seemed to be  _ Lance this  _ and  _ Lance that _ over and over but Keith never got bored of the monotone mantra that was slowly taking over him. If anything the fact that he now had a boyfriend was doing the opposite of what he wanted to happen. He had wanted Lance to be jealous and for Lotor to help take his mind off of the fact he could never have Lance but instead Lance was keeping his distance and Keith missed him like he was a missing limb. 

 

Keith wandered through the busy halls after lunch, he’d been avoiding Lotor all day so he wasn’t exactly surprised when he saw him leaning casually against his locker waiting. They were still pretending to be friends during school, because Lotor  _ still  _ wasn’t out of the damn closet. 

 

“Hey Keith” 

 

“Hey Lotor”

 

Keith wrestled with the lock on his locker and swung the door open quickly. An envelope fluttered to floor and Lotor stooped go pick it up. 

 

“What’s this?”

 

“I have no idea” Keith replied sharply as he all but snatched the letter from Lotor’s hand. 

 

“Anyway, I have to be really quick because I’ve got Miss Allura, and you know how she gets when you’re late, but I couldn’t find you before so I just thought I’d catch you now.”

 

Keith was in absolute disbelief, Lotor hadn’t even realised that there was clearly something up with him but his curiosity shoved it aside as he turned the letter over in his hands. 

 

“Oh yeah well you should get going, I’ll text you later.” 

 

Lotor seemingly hadn’t noticed Keith desperately trying to brush him off but he left all the same and Keith felt himself relax - not so subtly. He had a feeling this letter wasn’t going to be suitable to open in front of his boyfriend so he slid it into his bag for when he got into science. 

 

***

 

Lance settled in his seat, he’d slipped the letter into Keith’s locker during lunch and he was supposed to be sat next to him, but he was torn between concentrating, so he didn’t fail his physics GCSE, and gauging Keith’s reaction to the note. 

 

Noticing that his mind had wandered; he was currently not doing either of the two options he had given himself so Lance tried to clear his head and focus on the  _ very  _ entertaining concept of forces. The only part of physics Lance actually felt himself engaging in and understanding was space and the planets. Originally he’d wanted to become the pilot of a fighter jet (or something cool like that) because he loved the idea of flying and helping his country but he couldn’t imagine being away from his huge family for such a long time. His dreams had then changed to astronaut because in reality they get to see more of space than anyone else and they get to explore the unknown and now that’s all he wanted. He’d still be able to contact his family but being up there amongst the stars would be worth missing them for a while. 

 

Lance knew Keith loved to build things, he was constantly talking about the old mustang he’s re-building with his dad, it’s supposedly legal but the details of that were slightly blurry. He had assumed Keith was the kind of guy who’d want a thrilling job like being a stunt pilot or in the army but as it turns out he wanted to be an aerospace engineer and design shuttles and satellites. They had talked through a whole double period of science once just about the star and the theories of the universe and such, it had been a “ _ bonding moment”  _ or at least that’s what Pidge and Keith had dubbed it every time they referred to it - which was a lot of the time. 

 

Keith eventually wandered through the door and flushed a deep scarlet when he realised how late he was. Everyone turned to stare at him. He glanced at Lance bashfully through his fringe as he made his way to his seat quickly, stumbling over Lances legs, which were sprawled to the side of the desk. 

 

“Crap!” Keith screeched and flushed a slightly deeper shade of red - which hadn’t seemed possible a few minutes ago. 

 

“Shit sorry I-”

 

“Language Lance!” Allura called from across the room. 

 

“Fuck- I mean… I’m just gonna stop talking now.” Lance’s face was now almost the same colour as Keith’s and the pair looked at each other in despair before slumping in their seats, all flushed cheeks and bruised egos. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov *** 

 

Keith kept his head down for the first half hour of the lesson, he’d made an absolute fool of himself when he came in and people were only just getting bored of making jokes about it. However it was extremely hard to stay focused when he knew full well that the letter was sitting in his bag just waiting to be opened. He didn’t even know what could possibly be in the letter but it was clearly from a student rather than a teacher and he just had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a “I’m so glad you came to this school, I hope you feel welcome.” type letter. 

 

*** 

 

Lance was getting restless and impatient, Keith still hadn’t opened the letter and it was starting to dawn on him that maybe he’d already opened it, or thrown it away or maybe someone else had taken it. Whatever it was, it was making Lance more than slightly nervous and would very quickly drive him crazy. Then, half way through the lesson Keith snatched the letter from his bag, some internal argument had been resolved and he lay the envelope on the table and smoothed it out carefully. 

 

Lance watched from the corner of his eye as Keith, very gently, opened the note. His expression shifted through several emotions as he read it and his jaw dropped open after what had to be the fifth time of going through it. Lance’s heart pounded in his chest as if trying to jump right into the page in Keith’s hands. His final expression seemed to be hopeful and Lance took it as a good sign rather than a bad one. Eventually Keith began to scribble on a scrap piece of paper and Lance had to fight with his emotions to stop his face from lighting up with happiness when he glimpsed the words  _ Dear admirer,  _ scrawled on the page. 

 

*** Keith Pov ***

 

Keith’s mind had gone blank. Stunned and overwhelmed with disbelief he read through the letter again, analysing each word carefully. Internally he was freaking out but on the outside he stayed as calm as he possibly could. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Lance watching him intently and he could tell he didn’t exactly have a poker face. The words were swimming on the page, black and white proof that there was still hope. 

 

_ What if Lance wrote this letter? He was watching him but was that because he knew what the letter contained or simply out of curiosity? _

 

The bell rang signaling the end of the lesson and Keith stuffed the letter back into his bag and all but ran from the classroom. As he left he heard a small, almost inaudible, sigh from where he had been sat and he turned to see Lance with his face buried in his hands still sat at the desk - and that’s when he made the decision the flip his whole life upside down. 


	9. The one with the arcade

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith had officially decided that 10:30am was a stupid time to go out on a Saturday, especially if it meant getting up at 8. He rolled out of bed onto the floor and made his dissatisfaction extremely vocal before grabbing a towel and heading for the shower.

 

“Where you off to today Keith?” His Dad called from his bedroom across the hall.

 

“Oh I’m just out with Lotor, we’re going to the arcade.”

 

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, I thought you liked that Lance kid? Why are you suddenly hanging out with Lotor so much?”

 

“Well that’s kind of a funny story… I- um, well,”

 

Keith found himself sitting down and using the next 20 minutes to explain how and why the Lotor situation was a thing and his dad seemed to be scarily understanding. He had even used the “I get it son.” line which had been slightly weird given the context but Keith would take whatever he could at this point.

 

“Look Keith, you have to do what’s right for you but you can’t go breaking hearts simply because it’s convenient, go have a good time and enjoy what you have with this boy… the one you’re actually with rather than the one you’re hung up on.”

 

As much as he hated his current situation Keith did have to agree with what his dad was saying, there was no point staying hung up on Lance. If they were meant to be it would happen in due course; there was still the matter of who was behind these letters. Today was going to be amazing and he was going to forget all about Lance, today was his day and Lotor was going to see the real Keith.

 

***

 

Lance got out of bed at 10 o’clock and yawned loudly, it was way too early to be getting up on a Saturday but Pidge and Hunk has planned a day out and there was no way Lance would possibly get out of it so he just went along with it and hurried through getting ready. Lance was dressed and out the door on the way to Hunk’s by 10:30, he’d been instructed to bring money for food and an extra £10 for the days activities so he’d swiped a £20 note out of Veronica’s purse before leaving.

 

He leaned on the doorbell impatiently and jumped slightly when Pidge’s door opened and she jumped over the wall to join him.

 

“Oh my god you’re actually on time?” Pidge exclaimed laughing at his outraged expression.

 

“Well I still don’t know what we’re doing so I wanted to know, got up like half hour ago as well.” Lance grumbled back.

 

The door swung open and they both bundled into the tiny hallway that was filled with several pairs of shoes and two overexcitable twins - two of Hunks younger siblings.

 

“Hey Pidge! Hey Lance!” They chimed in uncanny unison.

 

“Hey guys whatcha doing?” Pidge asked poking them in the belly before Lance picked them up and swung them round one at a time whilst they screamed with glee.

 

They both ran away giggling and chasing after each other; completely ignoring Pidge’s question.

 

Pidge and Lance dragged themselves upstairs to Hunk’s bedroom and pounded on the door until he let them in.

 

Within ten minutes Lance had managed to get the whole plan out of Hunk and he felt kind of betrayed, he’d gotten up at 10am to go to the arcade! In all fairness they were going to the funfair too but it still didn’t seem worth it. That was until Pidge promised to get him a huge stick of candy floss if he stopped moaning and just had fun.

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Keith stifled a yawn as he walked up the steps to Lotor’s front door and rang the doorbell, he still wouldn’t be awake if it were purely up to him but he’d told Lotor they’d be at the arcade for 11 and spend the whole day just hanging out together so he had to keep his word. Lotor opened the front door almost immediately after the bell rang and Keith couldn’t help but smile at the pure excitement on his face.

 

Keith and Lotor decided to walk to the arcade seeing as it was only four blocks away from Lotor’s house and by the time they got there Keith had forgotten all about Lance and was entirely invested in making sure the day went well.

 

He began to appreciate the smaller things like how his lips began to twitch right before he laughed and how every so often a strand of hair would work it’s way into his eyes and he’d sigh slightly and brush it away.

 

Every detail in Lotor’s personality was enticing to Keith and feelings began to blossom somewhere between his heart and his brain. This was a different kind of love to the one he felt for Lance, it was more of a satisfied sense of belonging and safety whereas with Lance it was a desperate pining, to have what he knew he couldn’t, he needed Lance like he needed air, he needed desperately to belong to him and with Lotor he had that. He belonged to Lotor and in that moment Keith felt completely satisfied and whole once more. The feelings wrapped themselves round Keith’s entire being and enveloped his heart like thick protective vines and Keith smiled at Lotor with true contentment.

 

Being so caught up in their conversation as he was, Keith barely registered that they had arrived at the arcade and it wasn’t until Lotor began rummaging around in his bag for some money that he realised they had walked all the way up to the booth in the middle and he needed to change some coins. He glanced at Lotor and the ideal version he’d built in his head slipped a little when he touched his arm gently. The filter faltered and suddenly he was just Lotor again.

 

*** Lance’s Pov ***

 

Lance skipped into the arcade, it was about 11 am by now and he’d finally woken up enough to start enjoying himself. Pidge rushed in after him and made a beeline for the prizes so they could begin their customary arcade routine.

 

Every time Pidge Hunk and Lance went to the arcade together since they had know each other they had always done it the same way, every time they went one of them would pick a prize from the booth and they couldn’t leave until they had saved up enough tickets to get that prize. It was Pidge’s turn this time and she stood in front of the booth scanning the hundreds of items in front of her, they usually went for a prize that required around a thousand tickets but if there was nothing around that amount - that they wanted, they would just get hundreds of tickets and cash them in for a stupid amount of 20 ticket lollipops to share out.

 

“Oh my god!” Pidge suddenly exclaimed rather loudly in Hunks ear.

 

“Please, please, please, pleaseeeee can we get the 5,000 ticket BB guns I really wanna have a little war back at my house when we leave.”

 

“Pidge that would be undoubtedly fun but we’d need at least 15,000 tickets so that we have one each.” Hunk replied with a hint of disappointment.

 

“Well then I guess we’ll be here a while then.” Lance chipped in quickly and Pidge dissolved into a fit of giggles at Hunks delighted face.

 

Pidge grabbed them both by the wrists and rushed off to the closest machine, shoving money into their hands and all but forcing them to have fun.

 

Just as he was about to push the first coin into the slot of the game Lance caught sight of a shock of jet black hair amongst the bright lights of the arcade and his heart froze for what seemed like a year. The distinct mullet had sent a bolt of something straight to his heart and he had to close his eyes for a good 20 seconds before he could shake the feeling and regain his focus.

 

However, despite his best efforts Lance was left wondering if he was here and the mere thought made his heart speed up several beats.


	10. The one with the BB guns

Lance couldn’t help but smile at the overjoyed expression on Pidge’s face as she hauled the oversize black widow teddy out of the claw machine. The fact that Hunk and Lance had just stood there for a good ten minutes arguing with her that she was wasting her time and that those machines were impossible to win, just made the whole thing even better. The problem of the matter was that the teddy was so unbelievably huge Pidge could not for the life of her carry it, considering when it was put on the floor it came up to under her arms Lance thought it was best if he carried it for her. 

 

They still hadn’t managed to even get half of the tickets they needed to get the BB guns so they headed over to the bingo in an effort to win the grand prize of 8,000 tickets. 

 

Lance was so caught up in the masses of fun he was having that he didn’t notice when they walked straight past a certain tall raven haired boy. (Either that or he couldn’t see over the impossibly huge black widow he was  _ still  _ dragging round.)

 

It was a team effort when they won the bingo, they happen to be pretty mentally co-ordinated as a group and it sure did pay off when they had to scream at each other whether the number was on the card in front of them or not. 

 

“OH MY GOD! WE ACTUALLY DID IT!” Pidge and Hunk screamed simultaneously and Lance decided to just join in and jump around with them in a sort of, semi-choreographed victory dance as the tickets spilled out of the machine and lights shone onto their joyful expressions.

 

Heads turned as screams of joy filled the air around them and they had the attention of almost everyone in the arcade. Lance, Hunk and Pidge became one happy mess as they now had over two thirds of the tickets they needed. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

 

Screams of joy lit up the arcade from somewhere off to their left as Keith and Lotor stood in the queue to count their tickets before leaving. The had spent a good couple of hours at the arcade and now they wanted to go for a wander round the funfair in search of the entrance to the big wheel and some candy floss. 

 

Keith glanced around but the screaming seemed to be coming from the far side of the arcade behind a couple of the machines and so he gave up and fed the few tickets he had left into the slot to be counted. There seemed to be something familiar about the pitch of the screams but Keith couldn’t quite place what it was or why he was even recognising that that was a possibility. 

 

The total flashed up on the screen and Keith wondered what they could buy for 857 tickets considering the best, cheap prize in the booth was a 5,000 ticket BB gun. After about 10 minutes of browsing and another 5 of debating Keith and Lotor managed to pick a spinning top and lollipop each before sauntering off through the bustling arcade to the door at the other end. 

 

Just as they were leaving Keith spotted something that made his stomach just launch itself straight into space. There, in the corner, staring straight at him with piercing blue eyes, was Lance. All previous thoughts in Keith’s mind of how he was so “over” Lance and  _ totally  _ in love with Lotor died, just shrivelled right up… and died. 

 

Normally when you see your crush your heart speeds up or something but Keith’s heart just took a little vacation with the rest of his vital organs and he just stood there gasping for a few minutes before Pidge spotted them and Lotor was dragging him over to them. 

 

Thankfully Lotor was entirely unaware of the whole situation and was having a nice little chat with Hunk and Lance about the giant black widow toy when Keith tuned back in. 

 

Lance’s eyes sparkled and a huge grin lit up his whole face like it did when he got talking about what he was passionate about - usually space or a fandom/actor. His words rushed out in a huge jumble but somehow he was still coherent. Keith found himself admiring the way Lance’s lips danced as he spoke and unintentionally started to wonder what it would be like if he just shoved him up against a machine and kissed him, right there and then in front of everyone. 

 

***

 

Keith. Of course he was here, Lance couldn’t just have one day without him appearing at some point. His heart ached in his chest but Lance pushed it aside and started chattering animatedly to Lotor about the dynamics of the avengers and how Avengers 4 will kill everyone and everything. 

 

“Ok but if they kill off Black Widow hell will be raised, I will cry for years don’t at (@) me.” Pidge fumed to Lotor. 

 

“If they fuck this up we gotta take over, start a petition to kick the directors out and replace them with fans!” Lotors eyes lit up and Lance gestures wildly as he explained his ideas. 

 

*** 

 

So Keith and Lotor ended up sticking around and trying to earn enough tickets to get a BB gun each and in the end they managed to collect enough for four players. With their purchases in hand the group began wandering back to Hunk and Pidges house so they could ditch the rest of their stuff and go play in the woods behind the playground nearby. 

 

Lotor was first to sit out and he watched the game contently from his highly exposed position on the bench, right in the center of the “battle ground”. Unfortunately for him, Lance and Pidge didn’t play by the rules and began attacking the poor, defenceless boy on the bench until Keith came to stand guard. Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith as he danced away from Keith’s steady shots and set up shop in a tree high above to prey on an unsuspecting Hunk. 

 

Several years of archery as a child had taught Lance the ways of the sharpshooter and he nailed Hunk right in the chest several times before he was spotted and knocked out of the low hanging branches. He landed on the floor lightly before racing off through the crunchy autumn leaves - not the best grounds for a stealthy game but they made the most of it. 

 

Lance watched as Lotor stole his idea and swung himself into the high branches of a tree so that Keith could rejoin the game. 

 

*** Keith’s Pov ***

  
As soon as he knew Lotor was safely out of bounds Keith dashed after Lance, leaping over logs and ducking the bows of the trees as they shed their leaves around him. Lance suddenly leapt out from behind a dark oak tree and Keith was so startled that he fell backwards into the leaves. However, Lance had launched himself at Keith in a mock attack and when Keith went down… well Lance went with him. So both boys ended up sprawled on top of one another amongst the damp leaves winded and exhausted. Neither one seemed capable of untangling their limbs and neither seemed to want to. In that moment Keith knew he was completely and utterly  _ screwed.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was actually really excited for you guys to read this chapter because I was actually kinda happy with it for once somit would mean the world if you would take the time to let me know what you think and maybe recommend my fic to your friends? - Chelsea xx


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